Gaining Economic Knowledge

In an effort to gain a better understanding of the political and financial climate of the world, four Bayport-Blue Point High School students who take part in the newly formed debate club recently traveled with adviser Sean Meade to Hunter College in Manhattan to attend a debate sponsored by Intelligence Squared and Foreign Affairs.

Titled, “Ten Years After the Global Financial Crisis, the System is Safer,” students Joe Barry, Kate Clayton, Dillon Duffy and Milo Fallon paid close attention to the debaters as they spoke in detail of the financial crisis of 2008. The debaters on hand included the founder of Intelligence Squared, a Harvard professor, the president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve bank and an economic adviser for President Obama.

The experience was beneficial to the Debate Club members as they got to experience a live debate, observe tactics and techniques of debating, learn about the Oxford style of debate and to participate in the discussion.

Toward the end of the debate, Milo was selected by the panel to ask the insightful question, “With more and more countries such as Brazil and Italy falling into populism, how will that affect the global economy and the system?”

The team arguing against the motion won the debate, stating that the United States is not, in fact, safer than 10 years ago.